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Exciting action sequences can’t make up for the weaknesses of criminal defense attorney Rotenberg’s eighth Detective Greene novel (after What We Buried), which covers an early case in the officer’s career. In July 1988, Toronto Police Chief Charles Keon receives an anonymous tip that an assassin targeting the leaders of the Ontario G7 Summit—which include Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher, and Mikhail Gorbachev—will attempt to enter Canada. Keon sends promising young officer Ari Greene to a small town straddling the Quebec-Vermont border to investigate. There, Greene learns that several people have been killed, but fails to apprehend the culprit: Marina, a young woman trained as an assassin since age four by Afghan terrorist Alisander. Alisander’s coconspirator is Angus Whitecastle, former prime minister of Great Britain, who intends to use Thatcher’s death as pretext for a return to power. Marina leads Greene on a tense, bloody chase by car, train, and boat to stop her before she reaches Toronto. While Rotenberg gives most of his cast intriguing backstories, Alisander, the ostensible main antagonist, is a wisp of a character, and readers will be frustrated that Greene is scarcely involved in bringing him to justice. This is a letdown. Agent: Michael Levine, Westwood Creative Artists. (Feb.)